Why the Orange Vending machines did not take off here in Vancouver, BC.

During the 2015 introduction it made headlines and was an instant hit.

I’ll take you by the hand to see an in depth story from a vending operator’s point of view.

I visited one of my vending machine supplier not too long ago.

My supplier showed me a USED Orange Vending machine that squeezes fresh oranges for a drink ! It sounds awesome !

I was super excited and immediately offered it to one of my big vending account.

It is a good thing that it was not realized or else i will get into hot water and will be loosing $$$ on lease payments.

Would be wiser to get another vending machine or anything that appreciates.

Imagine getting your Vitamin C every day from your workplace.

I was very excited on the idea and i was pondering in my mind why the Orange vending machines are being sold for a hefty discount ?

I took some pictures of the Orange vending machine and went to the website and the company is located in Italy where the machines are made.

Here is the link on the Oran fresh Orange vending machine company. It is a great machine in concept, design and operation wherein it squeezes around 3 to 4 fresh oranges into a cup.

The machines are formerly installed in university and they are pulled out, the supplier told me that the university wanted a hefty commission which the owner of the Oran fresh didn’t agree and he pulled it out.

I had my mind racing with a lot of ???

I guess this story needs to be analyzed in depth.

I have a question for you : Why would a prestigious university think of $$$ instead of concerns for the students. It is after all a prestigious university. You can read between the lines.

These machines were also installed in Langara College and even the top honcho was drinking from the orange vending machine. Here is a news clip that was big during 2015. I noticed that the orange vending machine was not to be found in Langara College anymore.

I again research and typed the keywords : Problems on Orange vending machine.

Here are some links that is worth reading on the existing orange vending machine operations.

Blogger in China noticed that the orange juice was dark and not the usual color.

Reddit forum says :

• Oranges that are about to expire goes into the orange vending machines
• Fruit flies on some machines
• Cockroach on machines that are located in tropical countries

Again the Orange machines are not mainstream here in Vancouver, BC and if there is an electronic part that gets broken or a mechanical part gone bad then you have to wait for ages get to order one from the supplier in Europe.

There is not enough technical support on this Orange vending machine.

I noticed also that there are also a lot of made in china orange machines for sale in alibaba, i guess this is a knockoff of the original orange vending machine from Italy. The knockoff is around $4,000 USD while the original Oran fresh made in Italy was pegged at $12,000.

It is not a joke if you are serving fresh products to your discerning customers here in Vancouver, BC. I will not assume any responsibility on such unfortunate incidents.

In business, it is not always the monetary concerns in most cases. It will do more detrimental than benefit i would say if you blindly go ahead with such an ambitious project.

In order to successfully run this Orange vending machine business, the operator must be at the location every day and inspect the produce and clean the machine. Economically this is not feasible and not applicable here in Vancouver, BC since the labor is astronomically high.

Perhaps in Asia or other parts of Europe where labor is more inexpensive, the business model will work.

If i was still living in Asia i will not hesitate in ordering the knockoff Orange vending machines made in china since the supplier’s proximity is quite near and if you will be needing parts it is also inexpensive and manageable. Deployment to all the shopping malls will not have second thoughts with me anymore. Since it is just statistics, ratio and proportion that enormous population of people will buy fresh orange from vending machines.

If there are lots of roaches in tropical countries trying to get in the machine then just work it out with the supplier since everything is cheap to retrofit.

You see this business model will work in Asia but not here in Vancouver, BC. Small fine details of problems here in Vancouver, BC will leave you out of business in no time !

Personally when i inspected the Orange vending machine on the moving parts, i will never buy from the machine since i do not know how it is maintained and you can easily get food poisoning in the worst case scenario.

I guess the best bet is for large cafeteria operations where there are at least a couple of full time personnel that will deploy an Orange vending machine on the side as an extra income earner.

The cleaning and inspection of the fresh oranges will be a morning routine once the cafeteria opens shop.

Let me ask you a question :

Are you willing to clean the orange vending machine everyday on location even if just sold around 10 cups a day ?

Is $4.5 x 10 cups = $45 less cost of goods of oranges, gasoline and time worth it ? Profit is about $2 per cup.

Are you ready to loose $12,000 on an Orange Vending Machine ?

I’m not in a way trying to discourage people getting into the orange vending machine business, this is just my opinion, everyone is different.

The orange vending machine is revolutionary and a great concept !

Maybe the business model is not yet mature and bugs have to be iron out.